Throughout the week, a recurring message has been coming at me in a steady stream of synchronicities. It started with this clip form the Ricky Gervais Show.

[audio:TheRickyGervaisGuideToPhilosophy.mp3]

The idea of programming a virtual reality world for your perfect life gave me the realization that THIS life we are living is the one we should be programming. Especially if the talk of a holographic universe has anything to it (David Icke has been talking about this for some time now). We live this life once. Why not make it the life you want to live?

Next were two segments from Truth Frequency. The first was this one where Chris Geo talked of how he raised his own consciousness simply by starting his own radio show.

[audio:Truthfrequency_08-15-10_1.mp3]

It confirms to me a suspicion I had in regards to becoming successful making comics full time. It really is a “cart before the horse” scenario that sounds completely backwards, but in reality seems to be the only way forward. The internal mind chatter says that first there must be success, and then it can become a livelyhood. But the only way to make it a successful livelyhood is by first living it.

The next segment from the show reinforced the idea that when you do what you are supposed to be doing, the universe (or God) provides.

[audio:Truthfrequency_08-15-10_2.mp3]

Finally Jack Spirko summed it up with an answer to a question at the end of his Friday episode of The Survival Podcast. The twelve year old kid in me was always creating worlds and drawing comics.

[audio:SurvivalPodcastepi-00497_clip.mp3]

As I mentioned over at Cyper, the “master / slave” relationship is something that has taken me nearly thirty six years to understand. We are born into this “master / slave” relationship, born into bondage. But what happens when you are finally able to break free of the Matrix? Then what? That is when the adventure really begins…

March 8, 2010

Here is a “behind the scenes” look at the making of SPY GUY #1 Page 7. This one is interesting not only because it is the “hook” for issue 1, but it also contains the very first gag ever created for Spy Guy.

Back around 2004 I got to thinking that every comic book should have a “hook”. A page that while you’re flipping through it in the comic book shop, it catches your eye, and you go “whoa!”, and in that moment you are given enough information to get a gist of what the book is about, and are enticed to learn more. It would most likely contain a splash page image, and should contain a joke or one-liner that can be absorbed in an instant. When I began brainstorming what the issue #1 hook should be, this gag came to mind. It is one of the earliest Spy Guy drawings ever done, circa 1988, and is what I consider to be an iconic image for Spy Guy. What better place to use it than in the very first issue of the Unlimited Series.

Pretty good gag. But for the comic it had to be more dynamic. That became very apparent while I was putting together the mock-up copy that I use to pace out the comic with.

Once I started the full sized roughs of the new dynamic pose, I realized that I wasn’t getting the drawing right at all. Once you tilt it at a bit of an angle, you start getting some perspective and the way the trench coat falls gets more complicated. I needed photo reference.

In doing video reference for animation, I discovered how much superior using video reference is compared to using photo reference, because you can capture thousands of frames to chose from, and you get better action because you don’t get stiff as you hold still for the camera.

You can even see in the video above that I’m delivering the line of dialog in case that effects the pose in anyway. Below is the image I screen grabbed to use as reference for the actual panel.

From there I did some pencil sketches in front of the computer on 11 x 17 paper. Here is the 11 x 17 rough I created. The sharpie work was done on the bus on route to the GO Train back when I had a daily commute and was featured in a blog journal post a while back. I find the sharpie is useful for really blocking in some forms to base the final pencils around.

From there I took the sharpie rough, and did a tracing paper pencil over it to tighten the drawing before transferring it over to the S-172 Bainbridge illustration board.

For the final pencils and inks, I pulled out the gun reference that I keep beside the drawing board at all times.

And this is what it looks like in the final page. You can read it in context right here.

The page has gotten quite a few comments, so I can only assume that it accomplished what I set out to do with it. Now there you have it; the making of SPY GUY #1 Page 7.

October 16, 2009

Chuck Palahniuk gets a question about electronic books (kindle) vs. traditional print (books): Answers with a story about his dinner with (name dropping tourettes) NEIL GAIMAN in ITALY… it’s a great answer.

August 6, 2009

I’ve been watching Survivorman non-stop here in this final stretch to get SPY GUY #1 done. For some reason I find it very comforting. Here is the Baffin Island episode (which reminds me of Greg Hyland’s Lethargic Lad Survivor comic from way back in 2001-04-17 – I’d provide a link for the strip but he’s taken it down – this is the book it’s reprinted in).

“I’m here to survive for seven days, alone, without food, with very little gear, and no camera crew, in the basement, at Ultraist Studios.”

It’d be funny to make a short parody video to post, but I don’t have the time for it – heck, I shouldn’t even be blog journalling.

February 4, 2009

January 20, 2009

This administration has once again been brought to you today by a cabal of globalist banksters and their New World Order.

Talk about psi-ops, as part of the mass hypnosis program, the script even had Obama flub his oath of office. Watch for yourself here. Enjoy the next 4 years America! That said; we now leave you with this musical interlude.